US Police have warned the public against a drug so powerful that it can potentially kill anyone who even touches it! The opioid is known as furanyl fentanyl, which is a beefed up version of the already powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl.
According to the police, an overdose can be fatal even if it is just absorbed through the skin. The drug has reportedly already caused 19 deaths in Georgia in the last year. The drug has been placed on the Schedule I list of controlled substances, which is the highest levels of addictiveness after it reportedly caused 128 deaths across five states in 2015 and 2016.
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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has reacted to the alarming number of overdoses and deaths to the drug,
“U-47700 and furanyl fentanyl are both Schedule I drugs and used in the same manner as heroin. Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical treatment use in the United States. The drugs are distributed in either powder or tablet form,” GBI said in a statement.
“Because furanyl fentanyl and U-47700 are lethal at very low doses, law enforcement and the public should use caution when handling these drugs. They can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and are extremely toxic in the smallest quantities.”
The police has issued an official warning which comes after 10kgs (23lbs) of pills and powder were caught during a raid on a pill manufacturer in January, according to WSB-TV. GBI found a box full of pills labeled ‘Oxycodone’, which is a non-hazardous opioid, but it in fact contained furanyl fentanyl.
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Gwinnett County Deputy Shannon Volkadov said:
“When I found out what I actually had, [I was] definitely a little scared because of the amount that was submitted. Anything could have happened, but luckily with the protective gear and the staff that I had, everything went OK.”
GBI Crime Lab chemist Dineen Kilcrease also added:
“Oxycodone to touch it is still going to be very safe. To touch furanyl fentanyl could absolutely be fatal, just through the skin.”
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Fentanyl is considered to be the next challenge for the US authorities after heroin and is the most commonly detected fatal drug in opioid overdose cases in Long Island and Connecticut. Last year, this drug alone was responsible for nearly 188 fatal overdoses according to figures from the state’s chief medical examiner.
Better stay away from these pills folks!